Partisan
Unknown Artist
ca. 1600
Medium
Steel, wood, gold
Dimensions
L. 85 3/4 in. (217.7 cm); L. of head 21 1/2 in. (54.6 cm); W. 5 3/16 in. (13.2 cm); Wt. 4 lbs. 13 oz. (2182.9 g)
Classification
Shafted Weapons
Culture
French
Department
Arms and Armor
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William H. Riggs, 1913
Accession Number
14.25.257
Art Historical Context
Step into the Arms and Armor gallery to encounter this striking *Partisan*, a masterful French shafted weapon from around 1600. Crafted steel, wood, and gold, it measures an imposing 85¾ inches in length, with a substantial 21½-inch head, weighing just over 4 pounds. As a polearm with a broad, axe-like blade flanked by spear points, the partisan was both a formidable battlefield tool and a symbol of martial prestige, wielded by elite infantry or ceremonial guards. Dating to the late Renaissance in France—amid the turbulent reigns of Henry IV and the early Bourbon dynasty—this weapon reflects ...